Florida’s first bear hunt in a decade has generated significant public interest.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission reports receiving over 160,000 applications from individuals interested in participating.
However, Tampa Bay 28 reporter Annette Gutierrez has discovered that the large number may be misleading.
WATCH: Bear hunt or bear watch? Florida’s permit lottery draws 160K applications amid unlikely protest
Bears have been captured on camera in the Lutz area of Tampa, as recently as Wednesday.
"I’ve actually lived in both Tampa and now like North Tampa Lutz area, and it seems no matter where I go, I’m seeing the black bears - I love it though," said Anthony Marinelli, a Tampa resident.
But now, for the first time since 2015, Floridians will be allowed to hunt bears.
Some are all for it.
"As a conservationist, I'm thrilled that the bear hunt is back," said Travis Thompson, the Executive Director of All Florida. "Bears are a sustainable, natural, renewable resource, and we should have been using them for a long time."
But others are against it ---
"This is all about saving bears," said Chuck O’Neal, the President, of Speak up for Wildlife. "We don't believe that bears should be hunted in the state of Florida."
FWC said they are allowing this to happen because of its success story. Florida's bear population has increased from several hundred in the 1970s to over 4,000 today.
After the FWC approved a bear hunt for December, a spokesperson said they received more than 163,459 applications for hunters to enter a lottery to receive a permit.
Only 172 permits will be issued.
O’Neal said he had anticipated the bear hunt to get approved, so he encouraged people to buy a hunting license over a year ago and to start applying for the lottery when it opened in September.
He said he submitted 105 applications himself to silently protest the hunt — and, if selected, would only take pictures of bears, not kill them.
"We don't see that it's necessary to kill a bear, stuff it, and stick it in our living room, and feel good about that," said O’Neal. "So, it's our right to hunt in a traditional method of photography, and we plan to do that with our tags."
The application fee was $5, and a permit for residents will be $100.
Thompson said he trusts FWC and its research to help regulate the bear population through hunting.
"They've never gone extinct from regulated hunting," said Thompson. "Like it's very safe, very well managed, and FWC has an incredible team of scientists that have gone through this with a fine-tooth comb to ensure that at worst the population stays the same."
Thompson said that efforts by opponents of the hunt to purchase applications and permits to prevent others from participating may ultimately backfire.
"If we see that 30% of the tags are successful this year, what I think is in the future you'll see FWC issue more tags to adjust for the management goals on the hunt to be met. So I think this is going to long term probably backfire on them strategically if they want less tags to be issued."
FWC sent a statement saying, "The goal is to put the permits in the hands of those who will use them for hunting. We have heard that some groups opposing the hunt might potentially purchase permits. We have not seen this having an impact on previous hunts. We will collect and evaluate data to inform future hunts, including the number of unused permits and hunter success rates. Any money paid for permits will be used for conservation."
O’Neal responded, saying he and other opponents would double down.
"And to that, I would say we're just going to quadruple the number of people who enter this hunt next year," said O'Neal.
The FWC said applicants will receive an email informing them whether they have been selected. Those selected will have until 11:59 p.m. on Oct. 6 to log in to their account and claim their permit. Any unclaimed permits after the deadline will be available to the next person “waiting in line.”
